Definition of gumption in English:

noun

• Shrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness.

  ‘the president would hire almost any young man who had the gumption to ask for a job’

  More example sentences

  • ‘They played with the spirit and gumption that made them world champions, resisting all temptation to throw in the towel or play for outright draws.’
  • ‘If Croydon Council hasn't got an accountant in its ranks or a commercially-minded businessman with a sense of gumption, I can provide one.’
  • ‘And then, if you have the imagination and gumption, you can stop just being at the receiving end of news.’
  • ‘I was a feckless young man, without direction, commonsense, or gumption.’
  • ‘Unbridled teenage gumption as practiced in the U.S., it seems, is the answer to all problems.’
  • ‘He should take enormous pride that his enthusiasm and gumption have turned Motherwell around in recent years.’
  • ‘It's about time someone outside the Religious Right got some media savvy and gumption.’
  • ‘That took gumption, not to mention good ole-fashioned American Ingenuity.’
  • ‘All it would take is a bit of gumption and a modicum of courage.’
  • ‘How much gumption does it take to pillory the malfeasant editors, reporters, and publisher who turned to compost ages ago?’
  • ‘Again, we are seeing nothing unusual here, except perhaps gumption.’
  • ‘But if the migrants bike from a poor country to our rich one, they are demonstrating not British gumption but foreign deviousness.’
  • ‘Working this out at home will permit you to schedule around it, and will give you enough gumption to face the chaos at the festival theatres.’
  • ‘Take a minute to deliver some well deserved applause for this kid, whose gumption we should all long to emulate.’
  • ‘I have known people well into their 70s who have more character and gumption than people a quarter of their years.’
  • ‘So beyond greed and gumption is opportunism, optimism… and some great success stories!’
  • ‘It sure takes some gumption to assemble a flatpack yacht.’
  • ‘Since then, despite showing terrific gumption to answer all the questions asked of them, they have not played teams of this calibre.’
  • ‘He has crossed the line, and we've got to have enough and gumption to stand up and say enough's enough.’
  • ‘I imagine the endless nights of winter and reflect on the strength and gumption required to survive in the dark and the cold.’

  Synonyms

  initiative, resourcefulness, enterprise, imagination, imaginativeness, ingenuity, inventiveness

  View synonyms